An interesting look at the parallels between historical witch hunts and the ways in which women are continually subjugated and mistreated through our current day. The author presents a vast amount of evidence highlighting these connections, explaining how and why this treatment came to be (tldr: it’s men’s desire for power), and asserting the rights of women to make decisions about their own lives and futures. I especially appreciated the pushback against societal and patriarchal norms of womanhood, which most imagery of witches throw off, instead supporting the right to choose to live a child-free, unmarried, yet still fulfilled life.

As much as I appreciated the discourse, this was a challenging read for me at times for a few reasons. First, I’m not as familiar with French history and their feminists, so I didn’t get some of the references she made. More importantly, the organization of the book itself was at times confusing. While there are 4 large chapters covering a different specific area, each of those chapters was broken into smaller pieces that read more as individual essays than as a whole piece. I was also a little disappointed that there was little reference to the intersectionality of oppression and the extra challenges faced by I any woman who isn’t white and cis.

In the end, I’m glad read this one and found the ideas interesting, but it’s possible that the writing style just wasn’t for me, since I had such a hard time focusing on it.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, although at times it got a bit too dense/academic for my tastes. Several months after reading, I can't actually remember much of the content.

A strong and powerful book, it gives insight into the history of the trials and brings it back to present day. It's a timely book, especially with the way things are politically charged right now. A book that's equal parts inspiring and cautionary.

I absolutely loved it. The book explores the history of witch hunts and how society has long marginalized women who don’t conform to traditional roles. Chollet's writing is insightful and thought-provoking, blending history with contemporary feminist issues. It's a perfect read for October, as it reflects on women’s strength and resilience.

If you're into feminist literature and enjoy books that dig deep into societal issues, this one’s for you.

I wanted to like this book but had difficulty finishing it. It was a slow build and difficult to stay focused, so I did not finish the book.

I'm very irritated with myself that I did not read this sooner. I found this book to be absolutely enrapturing. The history, the anecdotes, the examples from current media and politics. This is a book that I feel would benefit anyone who read it. It also was so helpful to me when the concept of motherhood and how women are raised to believe that motherhood is the only validating thing that we can do with our lives. As I'm now in my mid-thirties, the idea of motherhood is something that has weighed heavily on me for the past year or so. I've felt alternately broken and angry about how I feel like I should want kids but I don't, and this book helped put it more into perspective of why I might feel that way. I even got some further reading material about it from this book!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

My grandmother frequently referred to herself as a bruja and me, her "brujita" which as a child, I thought it was cute, as an adult...well, it's stuck in a different way. This book was great on historical and modern day information on witches and I've heard many people actually speak about it and have recommended it.

Very engaging as I love to read about interesting subjects with witches being one. Would definitely recommend.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. However, I am no longer interested in pursuing titles on this subject

I have been trying to learn more about the history of witches and this was a great book to start my journey. I enjoyed reading it and will recommend others to also read it.

I enjoyed reading a European/French take on the History of Women and Witches. It was refreshing. It also takes the same viewpoint that independent women (widows, celibates, and childless women) were targets for their land because they didn’t follow the conventions of society. Therefore, women here were harassed, oppressed, and eventually called out as witches because the community didn’t know what to do with independent women. It was well-researched and easy to read.

I cant believe it took me so long to read this! I ignorantly thought it was going to have a focus on witch trials, and while there is a lot of reference to witch trials, i really think this is a strong feminist book. It dives deeply into childless-by-choice women and the aging of women and how women are held to a much higher standard than men. It was well written and a great read.

This is great book to prompt discussion of where we were, are and will be (or want to be) as women. Historical perspective. lots of food for thought, agreement and disagreement.

In Defense of Witches is an incredible collection of feminist essays that details issues that women are currently facing and correlates it to the atrocities of the witch hunts . Chollet is a French writer and while she also delves into the problems facing American women she also talks a lot about the way her culture historically and currently deals with women’s rights. This book is broken up into different sections which I appreciated because it helped to keep everything organized. In addition it also makes it easier to pick this book again in the future and just narrow in on a topic that I am wanting to reread. The various sections include our reproductive rights, childbearing, mothering and aging.

I also loved that Chollet went hard on how disgusting the view of women’s value being only in their ability to have children but she also had space for women who did choose to be mothers. And even on the topic of motherhood she dove headfirst into the reality that a lot of women don’t enjoy being mothers. While I have always wanted to have kids and thoroughly enjoy the act of raising them I also think it is vitally important that we celebrate the women who choose differently. And being a mother is hard work that I know I wouldn’t enjoy nearly as much if I didn’t have an equal partner in my husband.

It would also be remiss to note that Chollet put together this powerful book on how women’s rights have always been trampled on and disregarded in the name of some other thing. And just last summer America did just that by overturning Roe v Wade and now we have states in our country that no longer allow women to make their own choices regarding their body. It is bewildering and shocking that the witch trials were roughly 300 years ago and women are still being oppressed.

Books like In Defense of Witches are so vital because they are how we as women can keep pushing back on how we have been treated historically and currently. I may not have agreed with every single that Chollet said but I did resonate strongly with the sentiments behind it all. And while I knew that the witch trials were about men trying to control women I never correlated it to issues we are facing now. I loved how Chollet compared the two of them and if I had any critique of the book it would be that I wish we had more of that.

The historic significance and wealth of information about women and the many ways misogyny, persecution and fear led men (and church) to target women as witches and unholy has always fascinated me.
(Yes. I own and proudly wear a shirt that proclaims “We are the great-granddaughters of the witches you couldn’t burn”)
The fear of something difficult to understand and the inability to control led independent women (She can take care of herself?! Devil worship!), the childless (she dares defy God’s will to procreate? Blasphemy!), and even the elderly (feared, misunderstood, a touch of dementia or confusion? Must be possessed by demons!).
I highly recommend this book to anyone fascinated by the topic or wanting another view of women though history.

This books discusses "three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror.
And how today they continue to be harassed and oppressed."

This book is so interesting and adds stories, media sources, historical facts, current media and the outcome is a very fascinating and comprehensive narrative about females place in society and what happens when they try to change it.

Take back the word witch, take back our lucky number 13 and all the other symbols they told us are evil. Freaking losers. If I could go back in time I would go back to find the evil ahole that wrote the Malleus Maleficarum and give him and his followers a lobotomy. Periodt

Side note: I just started growing out my gray hair. I'm going into my witch era!

Thank you stmartinspress for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

I gave this a four out of five stars. I really enjoyed this book it’s really cool. I want to add the physical book to me collection.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. "With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who seek to live their lives on their own terms."

Mona Chollet writes an intriguing story about witches being a symbol of female rebellion in the face of misogyny and persecution. Her writing style is pretty good and kept me interested most of the time. I think the story could have been a little shorter, but overall I enjoyed the book. If you like witches I think you would like this.

A fascinating feminist exploration of the history of the witch. It does lean heavily French, so if American witches are more your jam, you might be disappointed.

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "we are the granddaughters of the witches they couldn't burn"? This book lays out exactly why that is true. Those first witch hunts, trials and burnings - they weren't really about some magical powers or evil doings. No, they were about punishing women who refused to conform to society's rigid idea of what "woman" should be, and making an example of them for other women to keep them in line. Choose to stray from the path of the quiet, subservient, docile, wife/mother/grandmother whose sole purpose in life was to serve your family and do it without complaint? Well...

Chollet examines how that thread weaves throughout history and continues today. It's illuminating and infuriating and nothing that we women don't already know in our bones. Now, where's my broomstick?